a styled proposal

HOW THEY MET:(from the groom-to-be, Sean) – “Mollyann and I met briefly during college yet our love story did not begin until after college. Our service fraternity held an annual semiformal that we both decided to attend without dates. We reconnected that night and spent the evening talking and dancing until finally we exchanged numbers.

Shortly thereafter, I asked Mollyann out to lunch at this new restaurant that I had wanted to try but unfortunately when we arrived the place was closed for the day. What could have been a disastrous first date actually ended up being one of our most memorable days together. We spent the entire afternoon wandering around downtown Raleigh and exploring different parts of the city that we had never seen before. To this day, we both share a passion for traveling and exploring new places, but now we do it as a couple!”

HOW HE PROPOSED:

From Sean: “Every year we leave Raleigh and go somewhere for Mollyann’s birthday because it always falls on a long weekend. This year however, I had something much bigger planned. After a little bit of discussion I was finally able to convince MA that we should just stick around, and break from tradition. Little did she know that at the time I was secretly planning how I was going to propose to her!

Mollyann works in the wedding industry and so indirectly we both know a lot of people that she works with on a regular basis. My idea was quite simple; work with a photographer friend of ours, Mikkel Paige, to bring in some of the most creative minds in the industry to put together a styled bridal shoot of which Mollyann would be the bride. MA puts together styled shoots and has appeared in them before so I knew that she would not be too suspicious. The one detail that she did not know is that I was actually working behind the scenes the entire time.”

“All of the details were hand-selected for the significance that each and every one had in our relationship. The color of her dress was grey, which is also her favorite color; graffiti art on canvas was from one of our favorite street artists, Banksy; the quotes that adorned the items around the room included the first dialogue between Romeo and Juliet, also the names of our cats, as well as a reference to the cosmos since MA has a star tattoo on her right wrist that I am crazy about.

Mollyann showed up to the location thinking that this would be just another styled shoot, but what she didn’t know was that I was also there hiding and waiting for the perfect moment to ask for her hand in marriage. The focal point of this shoot was a hand written letter that was transcribed by a very talented calligrapher. In the letter, I explained to Mollyann that there was no one else in this world that I would ever consider spending my life with except for her. As she began to read the letter, Mikkel started playing “Home” by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and that was my cue to walk into the room. I walked in with ring in hand, got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.”

Editor of Burnett's Boards, which she founded to showcase global creativity in the wedding industry. Sara currently lives out of a suitcase while island hopping the Caribbean and beyond. Learn More // Follow on Instagram.